What you need to do before/upon arrival in Norway.
Step 1 – All Grantees Except Those Staying in Svalbard:
As soon as a decision has been made on your residence permit application, schedule an appointment to be photographed for your residence permit card or, if you are a student, see if your university has a day scheduled for international students for this purpose. If it does, make note of the date and plan on attending.
Please be aware that the offices in many cities are very busy and you may not be able to get an appointment until quite a while after your arrival. Do not be discouraged by long wait times. Book the first available appointment and keep an eye on the site for earlier openings due to cancellations.
At your appointment, be sure to provide your complete local residential address and, if living in multi-resident unit, the dwelling number. Lack of a dwelling number and/or a mismatch between the name on your mailbox and the name on the envelope may result in the postal service not delivering your card.
Grantees staying in Norway for six months or more, should be simultaneously processed for a personal number (personummer) and permit card. However, during the fall of 2019 some grantees received D-numbers instead of personal numbers. (Personal numbers start with your birth date in European format: DDMMYY.) In order to be able to open a bank account, you need to have a personal number. If you are erroneously assigned a D-number, you will need to apply for a personal number.
Step 2 – All Grantees:
Submit a New mail recipient form to ensure proper delivery of postal mail.
Also, remember to register as an American citizen living in Norway with the U.S. Department of State at https://step.state.gov/step/ Be sure to explore the citizen services available at the embassy as well.
BANK ACCOUNTS:
Anti-fraud legislation in Norway requires grantees to apply for bank accounts themselves, and precludes the US-Norway Fulbright Foundation from applying on your behalf. This means that you must have received your residence permit and your personnummer before you can open a bank account in Norway. Once you have received the necessary documentation, Fulbright can assist you in the process. Grantees who will be in Norway for less than six months, should contact the Fulbright office about alternate ways to receive stipend payments.